Absolutely! Lifelong learning is just that... life long! If this floats your boat, do it!

No, this is not a Diploma, or Certificate 3 in Wild School Skills (AKA University, TAFE or RTO equivalent accredited course), nor a Level 3 Forest School Leader Course (UK). But please be aware that doing a Level 3 from a UK provider does not simply equate or transfer to Cert 3 here in Australia. It is not accredited here in Australia and currently, there is no accredited Wild or Forest School skills course here in Australia. Our course concentrates only on what we truly believe you really need to get outdoors, without the waffle and heavy load of assessments these institutes often require.

That’s not to say we don’t have assessments - we do, but only where safety or values are concerned.

A lifetime! As things change in the industry, we will add/edit them in the course and you will be alerted of any additions or updates as we go.

Yes! As much as we can - remembering that ratios are dependent on many factors, not limited to: your country/state/industry requirements, mentor experience/skills/quals, needs, ages and skills of children, weather, activity, location etc. But yes, we do give you guidelines for each adventurous activity

Ours is totally online meaning you can access it anywhere, anytime!

You have a lifetime of access and though there are some short assessments, there is no deadline to complete these. You can take as long or as little as you want to complete the course

We go beyond just giving you the practical skills. We provide incredibly in depth policies and safety procedures, risk assessments, venue risk assessments, safety briefing scripts for all adventurous activities, letters to parents, a myriad of templates and options for planning,  for each adventurous activity plus many, many more to encompass doing anything outdoors.

We have also included lessons on Water Play, Temporary Structures (including raft building) and Tree Climbing - again a first of its kind in Australia we believe.

If you are a school or centre in Australia, once you have completed your training, you should have no issues getting cover for these activities. Worse case scenario, you may need to change providers to a nature play friendly provider - we give you a few options in the course. 

If you are a small business wanting to run your own Nature Play program, it’s a little trickier right now. Since the Australian bushfires, the main leisure provider has pulled out of all fire activities. Many people have had to move to another provider, one of which is no longer insuring water play, another is not insuring tree climbing. Essentially, this year at least, you may have to choose which of these activities you don’t want to run. 

BUT - We are currently working with ASFA and YIB to try and create a Nature Play insurance binder (like childcare, scouts or surf lifesaving) to cover all of these activities. We need to show that we have enough interest to get this off the ground, so we would love your help! Please contact us if you would like to be added to this list, it’s as simple as filling out a 2 minute survey. 

Yes, having a whole Water Play lesson, policy, safety and supervision procedures included in a course like this is a first of its kind as far as we know. We are very proud of what we have put together for this and have worked with industry experts to help navigate what can be a tricky grey zone.

Absolutely. We offer group discounts for those centres/schools that want multiple team members or their entire team to all get a completion certificate for insurance purposes. Contact us at [email protected] for our group package rates. 

What we offer is similar in many ways as many of us are training people in the same skills. However, modules we offer that are different/additional to a typical Level 3 Forest School Leader qualification include:

• Adventurous Activities

• Water Play

• Tree Climbing

• Temporary Structures (cubbies/raft building) including safety briefing scripts, policies, procedures and how-to’s

• Everyday Nature Play - including rock play, stick play, mud

• Safe Outdoor Spaces, Cultural Awareness and Inclusivity

• Play and your role in the Forest

• Breaking Down the Barriers Module including

• Wildlife

• Plant ID

• Transport and Transit

• Logistics such as toileting and water (drinking and washing)

• People - Risk averse directors, helicopter parents, uninspired staff

• Insurance

• How to fix Uninspiring spaces

• Ratios

• Children and Risk Assessment

• Dynamic  Risk Assessment

• Venue Risk Assessment

• Risky Play

• Programming and Planning including

• Respectful Communication

• How to educate parents

• Building Community

• Group management (for each adventurous activity and in general)

• Behaviour support

• Resource provision

• Planning (including multiple planners and tools that link to EYLF and ACARA)

At the moment, no, for two main reasons.

One, it’s a nightmare in the backend to separate the modules at this time. 

We would like to see  schools/centres and businesses offering the whole package and not a watered down version or only ever offering simple, every day nature play even when their students are ready for more. Or just hand tools. That’s not to say you have to start offering all of these at once, we just want to see people come into the course with the mindset that they will come out of this course prepared and ready to offer all of it. 

Absolutely. All of our adventurous activity policies and procedures are based on industry best practice - which includes international industry where applicable. However, you will still be bound by the industry standards (e.g. education/childcare) of your country. We can’t possibly cover every country, however, we believe the only places you’ll need to do your own research (outside of your industry) are:

Water Play Lessons, where you will need to find out your industry regulations/countries laws regarding water play vs swimming depth definitions and any accompanying regulations and supervision guidelines around this. 

Rope weight bearing load regs in your country (these are typically the same or similar internationally but you’ll need to check)

Tree Climbing - you’ll need to check whether your industry/country have any bans or regulations about maximum tree climbing height. 

Ratios - may differ from industry to industry/country to country/per activity - but we give you what we believe is suitable internationally for each age/adventurous activity. The hardest part is knowing what it is you need to know. Researching it is the easy part.

Either way, we ALWAYS give you guidelines on what you need to know/find out/decide upon before offering each activity.

Otherwise Everyday Nature Play, Fire and Hand Tools lessons will be standard for most countries. Remember that this is only 3 lessons in one module out of 32 lessons out of 6 modules!